3. Earning and Purchasing Miles

3.1. General

3.1.1 You may earn Miles from the day you enrol in the Programme by travelling with us or using other goods or services supplied by Participating Companies. Miles which you earn will be automatically added into your account as long as you provide your membership number at time of booking or travel.

3.1.2 If you do not provide your membership number at the time of booking or travel you may seek to earn mileage on Virgin Atlantic flights for up to six months after the date of travel / activity. The time limits to register Miles for other goods or services may vary for other Participating Companies. Please refer to Missing Partner Miles page on our website for further information.

3.1.3 Missing Virgin Atlantic Miles can be claimed online by entering the booking reference or, in the case of a flight, through the presentation of either the original or a copy of the boarding pass for such flight. Any attempt by a Member to claim mileage from the same boarding pass on more than one occasion with different carriers will constitute a breach of this agreement and the termination provisions in clause 9.2 will apply.

3.1.4 Provided that you supply your membership number at time of booking or travel, Virgin Atlantic Miles should be credited to your account within 7 days of travel, and any Participating Company Miles will usually be credited to your account within 30 days of the activity. Certain Participating Companies' Miles may take slightly longer to be credited to your account. You will need to save evidence of your mileage entitlement until the Miles appear in your account. Flying Club may at its discretion, determine whether any item of proof is sufficient. If any activity has not been automatically added to your account within the above timeframes or if you failed to provide your membership number at the time of booking or travel then you may request retrospective credits to be made. All requests for retrospective mileage and Tier Point credits must be made within the time limits set out in paragraph 3.1.2.

It is possible for a Member to earn Tier Points within their current membership year but the membership year finishes before the Tier Points are credited to the Member's account (this may be due to delayed credit from a partner, retrospective claims etc. or taking the earning activity within 72 hours of the end of the membership year). In this case, the Tier Points will not automatically count towards the Member's Tier Point balance for the membership year.

A Member may therefore be temporarily downgraded if insufficient Tier Points have been credited to the Member’s account to retain their current status as a result. Virgin Atlantic will in this instance manually upgrade a Member back to the correct status upon Member instruction and receipt on the account of the late credit. This will be done after any month’s grace period between tier statuses has expired with the renewal Tier Point balance then resetting to zero for the next membership year. Any Tier Points accrued during the grace period will be credited to the Member’s account for the next membership year and will not count towards this manual correction of their tier status. Failure to notify Virgin Atlantic of any Tier Points which have not been credited to a Member’s account as described above will result in those Tier Points being lost.

3.1.5 Miles and Tier Points will be issued only for flights actually flown by you and will be based on the class of ticket you have paid for and will not reflect any complimentary or Reward upgrades. Miles and Tier Points will only be credited once travel has been completed, not at time of booking. Miles cannot be earned on any free or reduced rate tickets including, without limitation, reward travel, upgraded reward travel including upgrades purchased at the airport and Plusgrade, travel agent or industry discounts, Charter flights operated by VAA, Vex Courier, Miles Plus Money, child or infant and complimentary tickets.

3.1.6 Miles and Tier Points have no cash value and are not exchangeable under any circumstances for cash.

3.1.7 The Miles and Rewards available through the Programme will change from time to time. Please refer to the Virgin Atlantic website for the most up to date information relating to membership, Miles and Reward offers. VAA may offer other Rewards and/or opportunities to earn Miles for limited periods in other Flying Club publications. Such Rewards or opportunities to earn Miles will be subject to the Flying Club Terms and may also be subject to specific additional requirements or conditions as set out in the relevant publication.

3.2. Miles More Friends

This offer is only open to existing Flying Club Members who enrol non Flying Club Members into the Programme through Miles More Friends. Both the current Member and the new Member must be at least 12 years of age or over to qualify for Miles More Friends bonuses.

3.2.2 Non Flying Club Members must enrol via the email sent by the existing Flying Club Member and then take their first flight after joining in order for both parties to earn the bonus Miles.

3.2.3 Flying Co administrators, secondary contacts, travel agents, or any other travel bookers making bookings for third parties are not eligible to take part in this scheme. You may not enrol on behalf of new Members. They must enrol online and accept the Flying Club Terms.

3.2.4 For every person you refer who joins Flying Club, you will earn Miles on the basis of the cabin in which they complete their first round trip with Virgin Atlantic: the following Miles will be awarded in qualifying classes: Little Red 1,000 Miles, Economy 2,000 Miles, Premium Economy 5,000 Miles and Upper Class 10,000 Miles. Miles will only be credited once travel has been completed, not at time of booking. Miles cannot be earned on any free or reduced rate tickets including, without limitation, reward travel, upgraded reward travel including upgrades purchased at the airport and Plusgrade, travel agent or industry discounts, Charter flights operated by VAA, Vex Courier, Miles Plus Money, child or infant and complimentary tickets.&nbsp; Travel on codeshare flights and partner airlines will not qualify for Miles More Friends bonus Miles.

3.2.5 The appropriate number of Miles will only be credited to your account once your friend has completed their first flight and the Miles earned have been credited to their Flying Club account. Miles can only be earned on enrolments made through the Miles More Friends online process.

3.2.6 For all persons referred who subsequently join Flying Club and travel, they will earn bonus Miles on the basis of the cabin in which they complete their first round trip with Virgin Atlantic: the following Miles will be awarded in qualifying classes: Little Red, 500 Miles, Economy, 1,000 Miles, Premium Economy 2,000 Miles and Upper Class 3,000 Miles. Miles will only be credited once travel has been completed, not at time of booking. Miles will be earned on the first two applicable sectors flown. Miles cannot be earned on any free or reduced rate tickets including, without limitation, reward travel, upgraded reward travel including upgrades purchased at the airport and Plusgrade, travel agent or industry discounts, Charter flights operated by VAA, Vex Courier, Miles Plus Money, child or infant and complimentary tickets. Travel on codeshare flights and partner airlines will not qualify for Miles More Friends bonus Miles.

3.2.7 Virgin Atlantic reserves the right to change, suspend or cancel the Miles More Friends offer at any time and the mileage levels listed are subject to changes at any time.

3.2.8 You may refer as many new Members as you like through Miles More Friends, but you will only earn bonus Flying Club Miles on the first twenty sectors flown by recommended Members who enrol and then take a qualifying flight.

3.2.9 Virgin Atlantic will not be responsible for email messages that are sent by Flying Club Members that are undeliverable or cannot be opened by the recipient.

3.2.10 The emails you send to your friends will be the only communication they receive from us until they have joined Flying Club and agreed to our Flying Club Terms & Conditions. Their email address and details will not be used for any other purpose until this time.
3.3. Virgin Atlantic and Partner Airlines Earning Miles and Tier Points

3.3.1 You automatically qualify to earn Miles and Tier Points from your first qualifying revenue flight in Economy, Premium Economy or Upper Class. You will earn Miles for each base Mile flown (click here for a definition of “Base Mile”). When travelling in Economy (Y,B,R,L,U,M,E,Q,V,X,N,O), you will earn 100% of the Base Miles flown, in Premium Economy (K,H) you will earn 125% of the Base Miles flown, (W,S) you will earn 150% and Upper Class (I,Z) you will earn 150% of the base Miles flown, (J,C,D) you will earn 300% of the Base Miles flown (up to and including 31 December 2015, when it will revert to 200% of the Base Miles flown).

3.3.2 Flying Club Silver Members earn an extra 50% of Base Miles flown and Flying Club Gold Members earn an extra 100% of Base Miles flown, when travelling with Virgin Atlantic across all classes. Flying Club Silver and Gold Members travelling on a codeshare and with partner airlines will not qualify for the extra Miles.

3.3.3 Tier Points are earned for each qualifying flight taken as a Flying Club Member. The number of Tier Points earned per qualifying Virgin Atlantic flight is determined by the booking class paid. The breakdown of Tier Points earned per flight is listed on the Tier Points page on our website.

3.3.4 Tier Points can also be earned when travelling with Partner Airlines when earning Miles in qualifying classes. Please refer to the relevant Partner Airlines’ page on our website for qualifying booking classes. Please refer to the Tier Points page for the Tier Points that can be earned when earning Miles in a qualifying class with Partner airlines.

3.4. Code Share Flights
Miles and Tier Points will only be earned on a code share flight with a Partner Airline that has a “VS” prefix and booked in an applicable class as per section 3.3.1. All other code share operated or marketed flights by the partner with an airline other than Virgin Atlantic will not qualify for Miles or Tier Points.

3.4.1 Miles and Tier Points will be awarded on code share flights. Please see the Tier Points page on our website.

3.5. Participating Companies

3.5.1 Participating Companies may impose additional conditions that affect the way you may earn Miles from other Participating Companies. Please read each Participating Company’s rules on the Virgin Atlantic website regarding earning Miles as set out at Partner Miles.
3.5.2 A Member may only earn Miles from Participating Companies for flights or other goods or services actually taken up by that Member, except in circumstances expressly provided for elsewhere in these Flying Club Terms.
3.5.3 To ensure you earn the correct Miles, you will need to give your name (as it appears on your membership card) and your account number to the Participating Company or when specified by the Participating Company or VAA. You should show your Flying Club membership card at the relevant time and make sure your account number has been correctly recorded by the Participating Company.
3.5.4 Once Miles have been awarded to your Flying Club account or to an account with another airline for an activity on Virgin Atlantic or a Virgin Atlantic Partner the Miles cannot be transferred between the two accounts.

3.6.Cancelled Flights or Involuntary Transfers
If you are transferred to another VAA flight or Participating Company airline, which differs from the original issued ticket, the mileage earned on the resulting flight will be credited to your account. However if you are involuntarily transferred to a non-Participating Company airline, you may request Miles for your original VAA booking. In this case you will be required to send in a cover letter to outline the original flight details, along with a copy of your original boarding pass and new ticket details, to your local Flying Club department. Please note that VAA shall not be liable to award Miles where either (i) you voluntarily transfer to a non-Participating Company airline; or (ii) you are transferred to a non-Participating Company airline in circumstances where your original VAA flight is cancelled due to natural disasters/disruption, weather, fire, strikes, war, civil unrest, closed airports, acts of terrorism or any other reason beyond VAA’s reasonable control.